294 THE LOCAL AND PERSONAL NAME OF EWART 



To this proposition I venture to think there are serious 

 objections. In the first place, — is there a Saxon (or Anglo- 

 Saxon) word ^w, signifying "river"? In his "Words and 

 Places" (p. 130), the Rev. Isaac Taylor asserts that "through- 

 out the whole of England there is hardly a single river-name 

 which is not Celtic." The questionable word suggested seems 

 to bear a phonetic resemblance to the Latin-French eau ; 

 but that is scarcely likely to have found its way into 

 Northumberland at an early date, especially in composition 

 with the A.S. suffix "worth," — which means not "property" 

 but an enclosed or protected place. 



Before proceeding, it may be useful to quote the chief 

 variations found in the spelling of the name. These, taken 

 chronologically, are as follows: — Ewarde (ad. fin. cent, xii.), 

 Ewurthe (1219), Eworthe (1235), Ewrth (1267). Hewrth 

 (1269), Everth (1289), Ewardeslawe (?=Ewart'8 Hill) (1296), 

 Eworth (1336), Ewar (1371), Ewerd (1521), Eward (1603), 

 Eweard (1613), etc. Sir Hugh de Evar (or Eure) is mentioned 

 in 1267 ; and the great family of that name — variously spelt 

 Evar, Ever, and Eure, — Lords of Kirkley, who held lands in 

 Northumberland until 1613, are said to have taken the name 

 from the manor of Evre or Ivor, near Uxbridge, granted 

 by King John to Robert Fitz Roger, Baron of Warkworth, 

 and also to have received the manor of Eure, in Yorkshire, 

 from Richard I. (1191.) 



Among other more or less ingenious derivations offered, 

 the Rev. C. W. Bardsley, in his "Dictionary of Surnames," 

 gives Ewart, Youart, Ewert, as occupative, = the "ewe-herd"! 

 The application of this designation to a township is not 

 obvious. The same may be said of the derivation given 

 in Ferguson's "Surnames as a Science" (p. 68) from the 

 A.S. ju, O.H.Q-. ewa=:"law," and " ward " = guardian. O.G. 

 Euvart ; English — Ewart, Yeoward. These, and others which 

 need not now be quoted, appear to me both far-fetched and 

 improbable. 



For reasons presently to be stated, I believe the name to 

 be in fact derived from a Norse or rather Danish origin. 



I. In his valuable and interesting work on "Lincolnshire 

 and the Danes," the Rev. G. Streatfield makes the following 

 observations. 



